Reading Goals. This spring, our Bridges students will engage in close readings of personal narratives, memoirs, and personal essays (such as those needed for writing contests or private school and college applications). This genre centers on significant experiences in the writer’s life, ones that stand out because they have led to personal growth and lessons learned. These are written from the writer's own perspective, usually in the first person ("I"). Our text selection, written by both classic and contemporary writers, will present a wide range of themes. Themes that we will explore include: the joys of growing up, a surprise worth the cost, something I’ll do only once, and the moment I knew…  Across all grade levels, each personal narrative, memoir, and personal essay we will read embodies exemplary writing strategies and narrative techniques for our students to use in their own writing.

Using a structured method for deconstructing each text, our goal is to help students understand what makes a personal writing piece good. Students will analyze the writers’ effectiveness in balancing the actual story and the deeper personal reflections. Students will analyze each writer’s use of hooks and impact statements, word play, rhetoric, sensory detail, imagery, backstory, flashbacks, dialogue, and interior monologue. Students will also analyze the importance of creating shifts in mood, keeping a clear point of view, and proving a trajectory of personal growth. Students will see how writers use tone and voice to solidify the main theme, whether through cliffhangers, humor, suspense, irony, or just pure joy.

Writing Goals. Students will write a personal narrative, a memoir, and a personal essay, taking the same narrative techniques from the readings and applying them to their own storytelling and reflections. We will provide the structure to ensure a logical, clear, and focused storyline that answers a specific question, addresses a specific theme, and meets a specific word count (students need to know how to keep their personal stories short).

This semester, students will also focus on writing applications. Students will be required to use sentence beginnings, compound sentences, dependent clauses, and phrases (appositives, gerunds, participles, prepositional) throughout the revising process. This helps students vary their sentence patterns and change the pacing with shorter vs. longer sentences. It is also just good practice in grammar.

Students will use the full writing process (prewriting, organizing, drafting, revising, editing) and finish the semester proudly sharing the personal writings they have worked diligently to finalize.